


The Way You Smile

by Akiko_Natsuko



Series: Meihem [2]
Category: Overwatch (Video Game)
Genre: Enemies to Friends, F/M, Friendship, Jealousy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-08
Updated: 2018-11-08
Packaged: 2019-08-20 10:50:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16554383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Akiko_Natsuko/pseuds/Akiko_Natsuko
Summary: He hadn’t realised this…whatever, the hell it was. Jealousy, a small part of him whispered, one that he promptly quashed, because that would take too much thinking about….no, he hadn’t realised this change, or allowed himself to acknowledge it until a couple of days ago when Genji had first recruited Mei to try and help him spend more time with Hanzo, using the fact that the pair of them had become friends from the moment she had arrived on the base.Until he had seen the smile, that he had only seen once on the flight back aimed at someone else.





	The Way You Smile

     Jamieson Fawkes was facing a conundrum, one that he couldn’t even begin to put a name to, yet alone begin to understand what he had to do to combat it. Admittedly, he had realised that his usual method of dealing with problems, namely causing as much chaos and destruction was possible wasn’t an option here, not least because Winston had promised to banish him from the base if he blew anything else up this month. Which was an overreaction…although he supposed that other people wouldn’t see it that way, after they’d been forced to survive on meagre survival rations until they could replace the supplies that he had scorched, and repair the kitchen. Even Mako had been distant with him for a few days after that, so he supposed that he should take that warning on board.

Besides, it didn’t help his current problem.

    Which was why he was laid on the couch, supposedly playing Mario kart on the old games system that Hana had rigged up, playing against Lucio and Hana and losing badly. Although his losing streak was less due to a lack of skill and more because his attention was riveted on the far side of the room where Mei was sat with Hanzo and Genji.

On the source of his problem.

    And there it was again, the twisting, swooping sensation in the pit of his stomach as he watched Mei laughing at something the brothers said to her. It wasn’t the small, polite giggle she gave around people she wasn’t sure of, or just to be polite, the sound that Junkrat occasionally managed to gain. No, this one was honest and full-bodied, adding colour to her cheeks and a sparkle to her eyes that he knew from old photos had been more common before Antarctica. And it wasn’t aimed at him, nor was it because of him… and yet, he shouldn’t care, he shouldn’t be having this twisting, sinking feeling, because why should he? They were teammates, colleagues…maybe friends…if Mei was in a good mood, and Junkrat hadn’t done anything to annoy her.

And yet…

    Hana whooped, and he glanced back at the screen just in time to see his racer go off the edge of the road, falling away into space, dropping him back to last place, whilst Lucio and Hana were already on their victory laps. He sighed and set aside his controller, offering them a grin that he knew was far weaker than usual even before he caught them sharing a worried glance and he hopped off the couch, grimacing as his false leg protested the movement after being kept in one position for too long and he rubbed at it before managing a stronger grin.

“I’ll let you two battle it out for first,” Junkrat teased, knowing that there was no way they were going to stop there. Usually gaming afternoons became gaming nights, mainly because they rarely got the time to play games these days and he had a feeling that they would still be there come morning, albeit fast asleep and half on the floor. Normally he would have been right there with them, especially with the current explosives ban, but he needed to think. Not that he was going to admit that, especially as he could feel other eyes on him now, fighting the urge to turn around and glance at Mei. “I need to stretch this leg out a little.” Which was true enough, the limb still protesting as he straightened. “And I feel the need to blow something up…in the training range,” he added hurriedly, because whilst Winston was currently occupied with monitoring McCree, Ana and 76 who were out in the field, Athena was everywhere, and he had learnt the hard way that she was more than willing to turn him in.

    He waved off their offers to wait for him to come back, egging them into competitive bickering with a few well, chosen words before beating a hasty retreat. Not without a quick backwards glance to the back table, where Mei and the Shimada brothers had turned back to the origami they had been working on, ‘a bonding exercise’ he’d heard Genji call it earlier when he’d dragged his brother to join them. _Bonding,_ his hands tightening into fists at his side, and his steps were heavier as he limped out of the room, missing the way that Mei’s eyes followed him, or the way her fingers faltered, ruining the crease she was working on.

   He hobbled down the corridor, not ready to go to the training range just yet although the thought of blowing things up was tempting, but not sure where else to go. He ended up drifting aimlessly through the base, grateful that there were more corridors and rooms to explore now that they were close to finishing cleaning the Watchpoint from head to toe. Not least because it meant that there would be fewer afternoons spent scrubbing decades old dirt from rooms that they would rarely need. However, whether it was his subconscious directing him or unhappy circumstance, he found himself down on the lower levels where they kept the more sensitive laboratories.

Where Mei worked.

    He blinked as he found himself standing outside the familiar door, lips quirking weakly as he realised that she hadn’t yet repaired the door from his last ‘prank’, the metal still bowed and warped in places. It had been that prank that had earned him a month in a room that was nearly always freezing, to the point where he either had to make a massive nest on the bed, or admit defeat and crash somewhere else, unable to work out what she had done to the temperature gauge. In fact, he would probably have still been suffering from that punishment, if they hadn’t been sent on a mission three weeks ago. A mission that seemed to have changed everything.

     It was a well-known fact in Overwatch that the relationship between Mei and him was strained at best, particularly after their rocky introduction, which had left Mei with the impression that he was nothing but a bully…and him with the impression that she was an untouchable Ice Queen. Nearly every interaction they’d shared had been tense, sharp words barely masked by a certain level of professionalism, which was why it had been a shock when Winston had announced they were being paired on a mission, even if Ana had been sent with them to provide medical support if needed. And supervision…although that had gone without being spoken aloud. It wasn’t as though they could have refused anyway with how few agents they had, but they had been needed, Mei for her experience in cold environments and her scientific skills and Junkrat for his ‘experience’ with explosives, but everyone had been doubtful about the success of the mission.

Even them.

    Mei hadn’t grumbled or complained, instead she had smiled sweetly at him and told him that he should be able to adapt to the cold, considering how he kept his room these days. It had been a jibe and a warning all in one. _Behave._ Even Junkrat had caught the warning in her words, bristling at the implication that he would behave like that whilst on a mission, although he could admit that she had reason to believe that he would.

    Junkrat on the other hand had grumbled, mainly under his breath after Mako had shot him a warning look and he had spotted the way Mei’s hand had lingered on her gun. He’d already felt its power, and he’d had no desire to experience it again. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, after all they’d worked together before albeit in a much bigger team and less closely…but the thought of relying on someone who disliked him that much had alarm bells going off in his head. For all his recklessness, he knew how important it was to have someone you trusted at your back. It was the only way he’d lived this long after all.

    The mission hadn’t been smooth, they had clashed on more than one occasion and at one-point Ana had even threatened to sleep dart them both. Yet it had been a success, well, if you overlooked the fact that he had managed to level the entire outpost they’d had to infiltrate to retrieve the data, resulting in the three of them having to beat a hasty, chaotic retreat into the bitterly cold, Serbian winter.

That had been when it had changed.

     Junkrat was a child of warmth and sunshine, and even with Mei’s punishment of tampering with his room’s temperature, he wasn’t built to cope with the cold. In that bitter winter weather, he had wanted to curl up and die, anything to escape that cold that seeped into every inch of his body, that made his prosthetics seize up and left him dependent of Mei and Ana to keep moving. He might well have given up if it wasn’t for them, but it had been Mei who had known what to do, how to keep them going until Winston had managed to get to them. It had been Mei who had sat beside him in the shelter they’d managed to find in an old guard post they’d stumbled upon, chatting to him whenever he threatened to doze off, teasing him without the slightest bite in her voice. And it had been Mei he’d woken to find at his side mid-flight home, looking wan and exhausted, but still greeting him with a warm smile.

It had been that smile.

No ice, no hidden edge or doubt, that had changed everything.

     He hadn’t realised it at the time, returning it with a grin of his own, an honest, warm grin as he thanked her for saving his skin. He hadn’t even realised it when they had returned, and found his room was back to normal or that Mei no longer went out of her way to avoid him, even sitting with him and Mako at meals and talking to him about his latest tinkering project. No, he hadn’t realised this…whatever, the hell it was. _Jealousy,_ a small part of him whispered, one that he promptly quashed, because that would take too much thinking about… _._ no, he hadn’t realised this change, or allowed himself to acknowledge it until a couple of days ago when Genji had first recruited Mei to try and help him spend more time with Hanzo, using the fact that the pair of them had become friends from the moment she had arrived on the base.

Until he had seen the smile, that he had only seen once on the flight back aimed at someone else.

“Damn it,” he muttered under his breath, lashing out, adding another dent to the door with his metal hand and staring at it as he let the realisation wash over him.

_He was jealous._

 

 

 


End file.
